Dumb Diving Days

[Enginefitter]

You Da Man Sads!!!

Great story.

Take Care,

Engine

 

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[SADS 669]

New story same diver.......



There I was on my deepest dive ever on regular air and I can remember chuckling all the way back up, it wasn't Narcosis it was pure fun. Now, you might ask what is this diver doing having a laugh working his way back up a cliff face on the way to the top of the wall at about 80 ft deep. Then I was planning to swim over to the mooring line where I think I left the boat............?

Anyway, back to the dive. I hear people grumbling ( I was going to say pissing and moaning but I'm not supposed to I don't think) about Lionfish in the Atlantic. They say how they are going to wipe them off the face of the planet in this area with hunts, teaching people how to eat them and of course killing them whenever they see one. I am not a scientist, so I cannot tell you one way or another whether they are good or bad.

However, Mother Nature and I have a very clear understanding where scuba diving is concerned, I don't damage her coral, kill any of her fish or tease animals by pulling their tails or riding them. Her side of the agreement so far is that she hasn't had me eaten by a shark or squished by a piece of falling wreckage.

Right, back to this deep dive, I should tell the reader that I am a very, very experienced deep diver having been to 185 ft at least once a week for two years at a dive lodge that employed me to keep their guests safe, ( this was their signature dive) at this, some would say crazy depth. I have since then taken friends deep and come back in one piece as well as doing what purists would consider stupid depths myself on a regular basis. I understand the risks and am prepared for and accept any consequences.

So enough defending myself and back to the story. I was heading back up the wall after completing this very deep dive and I want to say that I never exaggerate about my diving. I promise you, there were dozens of Lionfish on the wall, they were in every hole I glanced in on the way back up. It was as if all of the Lionfish had a meeting and decided that if they stayed below 200 ft no one will get them, they might be right too.

Anyway, I was chuckling to myself all the way up every time I saw one imagining it giving the fin...ger or in my case being a bit of a Brit two fingers to all the people trying to kill them. I remembering thinking that Mother Nature has a habit of changing her profiles when we barge into her world, good for her I say and if she keeps me safe I will love her even more.

If you want to know how deep I went on this my deepest dive, send me a message?

Ps I am starting I see lion fish hiding more now so something has worked out they taste good....

 

[Boatlode]

They do taste good, if you don't mind working around the bones. I would love to get one big enough to filet.

 

[SADS 669]

Turkey or Lionfish, not sure which you mean?? And because all of my " Colonial friends" will be eating spuds today, here's a little potato story for you.......

Happy Thanksgiving dear friends......

There I was teaching in the classroom trying to make learning scuba diving as interesting as I could for the soldiers, we even had an officer in the class. I was a trainee instructor at the time so I was pulling out all the stops in an effort to get my point across. We eventually get to the bit about how you stop a diving mask, goggles, face mask or thingy you stick on your face from fogging up? I am OK with all of these descriptions as a realist, some people aren't? And if they're not they can get stuffed ( pun intended)

Anyway, I managed to get into the lesson that any number of things can be used to de-fog a mask, very expensive commercial de-fog juice, toothpaste, saliva, an apple and even a potato will work when rubbed on the inside of the lens. So the lessons in the classroom are complete and off we go to the English south coast where the diving will occur. I should add at this point that the officer was a Cavalry officer better known to simple soldiers as a "Hooray Henry" these gentlemen are generally very young, very posh and very rich. Daddy normally sends them to the Army to toughen them up a little, it doesn't always work.

So we are on the dive site in the little rubber boat about to go in. Suddenly there is a high pitched voice from the front of the boat asking, " did anyone bring the potato?" Well soldiers, especially British ones, who generally have an outrageous sense of humour are extremely quick on the uptake, so to speak. "Hang on sir, I'll check in my bag" shouts one. " I am sure the instructors wouldn't have forgotten to bring it sir" shouts another.

So there we were tearing the boat apart looking for this fictitious potato that Harry, sorry Henry assumed one of his "servants" or " the help" as I am sure he viewed us 'other ranks' must have brought with them for his use. I still smile to this day thinking of the "lads" ripping up the wooden floor of the boat, coming out with humorous quips like " can't find the potato sir, will my sandwich do the trick?" It was about 10 minutes of 'us versus them' that everyone except the poor defenseless young officer really enjoyed.

So next time you hear someone talking with a terribly posh British accent think of the potato story, it will put a smile on your face, it does for me............every time!

 

[Blak bart]

Kevin thats a great story about your friend steve rigby. I see you went the extra mile and left him on the sand bar with a bottle of bubbly. Awsome work and an inspiration to all.

 

[aquanut]

Kevin thats a great story about your friend steve rigby. I see you went the extra mile and left him on the sand bar with a bottle of bubbly. Awesome work and an inspiration to all.

They used to call that Marooning in the old days.

 

[Salvor6]

A few years ago I got a team of divers to enter the St. Pete Open spearfishing tournament. The week before the tournament we went to the Mexican Pride, a 400 foot LST landing craft sunk in 130' of water 50 miles off shore. All the action is on the deck at 90' deep. I got a nice 42 pound amberjack. On the day of the tournament we went out there. There were 6 fishing boats parked over the wreck. No problem, there's plenty of room. We dropped anchor, suited up and abandoned ship. It seems like the fish knew there was a tournament. We couldn't find anything but the 800 pound jewfish that live there. When we got back to the surface 1/2 hour later I couldn't find the boat. There it was about 1/2 mile away.

None of the fishermen offered to give us a ride so we started swimming toward the boat. I saw the anchor below skimming across the bottom. I got there first, got on board, dropped my gear and started to haul the anchor in. Before I could start the engine the others arrived and got on board. One of my divers dropped his new Beuchat spear gun that he just bought last week. He said he tried to swim down but ran out of air. There was no way we could find it.

We drove to our second site closer to shore and made a dive but the visibility was only 3 feet. Needless to say the trip was a disaster and we got no fish.

 

[SADS 669]

Good one Pete ......

 

[Boatlode]

None of the fishermen offered to give us a ride so we started swimming toward the boat.

Turds.

the title is based on his experience of me dumping him on a sand bar in the middle of the ocean and leaving him there to his thoughts for an hour or so.

Note to self: take the keys before exiting Kevin's boat.

 

[SADS 669]

Anyone else out there dive the pyramids?

Cattle boat story,

I left the Army to work for a German gentleman in West Africa who thought it was OK to scream at me whenever he wasn't happy with something I was involved with as his game fishing and diving resort Manager. You might think me thin skinned but having put up with that behaviour in the Military I decided now I was a civilian I wasn't going to tolerate it.

So I was back on the 'merry go round' of sending CV's ( resumes) to a million people who made the mistake of putting their address 'out there'. I wrote to resorts in diving magazines, I went to travel shows and generally made a nuisance of myself in the hope of gaining a job or at the least an interview.

I secured a grand total of two interviews, ( sigh) one in Hurghada, Egypt and the other in Aquaba, Jordan. Both places said if I travelled to the resort or dive operation I would be interviewed and the rest was up to me. So off I go on a plane to Cairo, visited the Pyramids, bought my sister a beautiful brass coffee pot from the hawkers market there, with a promise from the seller " on his mothers life" it will not leak ( it did) and generally had a great time for a day in this wonderful land.

The next night I was bundled into the resorts hired Mercedes taxi with boxes and boxes of new dive gear strapped to the roof I thought it was the Beverley Hillbillies. The trip to Hurghada was 6 hours overnight with one stop to refuel. On arrival at the resort a couple of hours sleep was snatched before finding out ' horror of horrors' the resort owner had decided to toddle off to London, (where I had just come from ) to a travel show. This was excellent info I would love to have had before travelling to where he used to be.

To say I was annoyed was an understatement but was cheerfully informed that he would return in about 10 days and maybe the interview could be rescheduled for then. Now, one thing that makes me absolutely 'bonkers' is being taken advantage of or 'screwed over' I think is the American term. So I took advantage of them, I went diving for the day, ( more about that in a minute) then jumped in the taxi that night and returned to Cairo ( more about that too).

Diving in places like Hurghada makes ' cattle boat diving' like being alone on the moon. I jumped into the water from the resorts boat that was anchored alone on the dive site and I thought how nice it was to be the only boat in the area. The dive experience went downhill from this point.

I could hear boat propellers in the distance, they were getting louder and louder. When the dive master eventually arrived back at the anchor line imagine my surprise when I looked up to see 10 boats ( at least) tied to each other like a giant raft. The only way I knew ours was the one in the middle was because every boat had its name written in huge letters across the bottom of it.

This cemented my desire to get away from this sort of diving as soon as possible. So now we are back to the taxi ride that night to Cairo. I cannot say strongly enough how beautiful a car ride it was with no boxes on the roof, the sunroof was open, there were no clouds in the sky and you felt you could actually touch the stars. A memory I will always thank the Egypt trip for.

Now of course the fun starts, I have to get from Cairo to Jordan and then hope the interview for the job is still open. Getting any assistance in that part of the world from official places like airline counters etc is really difficult if not impossible, until you work out that if you hold your passport in the air with US dollars sticking out the top of it. Depending how thick the bunch is depends how quickly you get to the front of the line.

That was my experience in Egypt, a couple of ok dives ( there are never any bad ones) and a monster amount of hassle.

 

[Darren in NC]

Awesome stuff, Kevin. Your memoirs should be quite the read. When's the book coming out?

 

[SADS 669]

It's not full yet?

 

[TreasureCDave]

Cattle boat story,

Diving in places like Hurghada makes ' cattle boat diving' like being alone on the moon. I jumped into the water from the resorts boat that was anchored alone on the dive site and I thought how nice it was to be the only boat in the area. The dive experience went downhill from this point.

I could hear boat propellers in the distance, they were getting louder and louder. When the dive master eventually arrived back at the anchor line imagine my surprise when I looked up to see 10 boats ( at least) tied to each other like a giant raft. The only way I knew ours was the one in the middle was because every boat had its name written in huge letters across the bottom of it.

Sounds just like "Stingray City" in Grand Cayman

 

[bay pirate]

Never "test" a 12 ga bangstick on a coral head

Especially if your initials are BVI[emoji106][emoji23]

 

[SADS 669]

Great little dive off Plymouth England.

THE SHIP THAT WOULDN'T DIE


There I was bombing ( English for going very fast for any West Atlantic readers) past the Pilgrims steps in Plymouth not a care in the world trying to see how fast I could make the rubber boat go. The little rubber duck had a wooden floor that took two lifetimes to fit and the teeny weeniest engine you could imagine, a 40 hp Army green "thrashed to death" Johnson.

Anyway, back to the story, because I felt guilty about not paying the proper respects to the steps that so many immigrants to the States used all those years ago I decided to go back and walk up them and then back down to the boat just to say "I had". Great idea in principle but not so smart for the "rushed" dive instructor.

I tied the boat up and shot up the steps ( not a great North American term) and back down again only to see the boat drifting off towards the open sea in the river current, so in true fashion I jumped in and chased it. This would have been ok if I had thought, decided or even went ahead and put my dry suit on first, but no I was fully clothed in my regular " before the dive" gear. When I eventually caught the boat and got in, I was not a very happy or warm Individual to say the least.

However, after arriving at the dive centre ( we used to keep the boat at the accommodation barracks.) and a couple of cups of tea ( back to the other side of the Atlantic) I was warm and dry again and off we went to the James Egan Lane. This wreck is a Liberty ship that was struck by torpedoes and even though it was sinking and the crew abandoned it, the old girl refused to sink and motored around a bit wrecking the lifeboats which were full of crew as it did so. It was towed to shore in an effort to salvage it but this is where it did eventually sink and is now a great wreck dive in 22 meters. There are wonderful dead mans fingers growing all over the bow, really impressive.

"Down we go" ( sounds like a submarine movie........) sorry back to the story, I had a great dive, mainly because I always do, and of course there are no bad ones. On my return to the wubber boat I had the brain wave at the anchor line to use my knife to reset the little wire thingy on my depth gauge that shows how deep you have been. Now, for a clever, calm, sort of normal person this would be easy, set the gauge, put the knife away. Oh no, not me, I promptly decided that it would be a great idea to slip while doing it and put the tip of my knife straight through my dry suit and into my leg.

For anyone who has done something similar you will know that at 20 ft depth blood looks green, which is cool. unless of course it's your own blood. Also I hasten to add my right side is now icy cold ( for the second time today) because "idiot boy" is now wearing a dry suit with a hole in it. I ask you, would you dive with me? I do however break off the tips of every single, solitary, sucking, stinking, stupid one of my dive knives now. I shake my head every time it reminds me how dumb I WAS, note the emphasis on was.........yeah right!!

 

[Darren in NC]

Kevin, it's fun to watch your brain at work when you tell stories. You have so many stories to tell within your story. I can relate, my friend.

 

[Red_desert]

Anyone else out there dive the pyramids?

Cattle boat story,

I left the Army to work for a German gentleman in West Africa who thought it was OK to scream at me whenever he wasn't happy with something I was involved with as his game fishing and diving resort Manager. You might think me thin skinned but having put up with that behaviour in the Military I decided now I was a civilian I wasn't going to tolerate it.

So I was back on the 'merry go round' of sending CV's ( resumes) to a million people who made the mistake of putting their address 'out there'. I wrote to resorts in diving magazines, I went to travel shows and generally made a nuisance of myself in the hope of gaining a job or at the least an interview.

I secured a grand total of two interviews, ( sigh) one in Hurghada, Egypt and the other in Aquaba, Jordan. Both places said if I travelled to the resort or dive operation I would be interviewed and the rest was up to me. So off I go on a plane to Cairo, visited the Pyramids, bought my sister a beautiful brass coffee pot from the hawkers market there, with a promise from the seller " on his mothers life" it will not leak ( it did) and generally had a great time for a day in this wonderful land.

The next night I was bundled into the resorts hired Mercedes taxi with boxes and boxes of new dive gear strapped to the roof I thought it was the Beverley Hillbillies. The trip to Hurghada was 6 hours overnight with one stop to refuel. On arrival at the resort a couple of hours sleep was snatched before finding out ' horror of horrors' the resort owner had decided to toddle off to London, (where I had just come from ) to a travel show. This was excellent info I would love to have had before travelling to where he used to be.

To say I was annoyed was an understatement but was cheerfully informed that he would return in about 10 days and maybe the interview could be rescheduled for then. Now, one thing that makes me absolutely 'bonkers' is being taken advantage of or 'screwed over' I think is the American term. So I took advantage of them, I went diving for the day, ( more about that in a minute) then jumped in the taxi that night and returned to Cairo ( more about that too).

Diving in places like Hurghada makes ' cattle boat diving' like being alone on the moon. I jumped into the water from the resorts boat that was anchored alone on the dive site and I thought how nice it was to be the only boat in the area. The dive experience went downhill from this point.

I could hear boat propellers in the distance, they were getting louder and louder. When the dive master eventually arrived back at the anchor line imagine my surprise when I looked up to see 10 boats ( at least) tied to each other like a giant raft. The only way I knew ours was the one in the middle was because every boat had its name written in huge letters across the bottom of it.

This cemented my desire to get away from this sort of diving as soon as possible. So now we are back to the taxi ride that night to Cairo. I cannot say strongly enough how beautiful a car ride it was with no boxes on the roof, the sunroof was open, there were no clouds in the sky and you felt you could actually touch the stars. A memory I will always thank the Egypt trip for.

Now of course the fun starts, I have to get from Cairo to Jordan and then hope the interview for the job is still open. Getting any assistance in that part of the world from official places like airline counters etc is really difficult if not impossible, until you work out that if you hold your passport in the air with US dollars sticking out the top of it. Depending how thick the bunch is depends how quickly you get to the front of the line.

That was my experience in Egypt, a couple of ok dives ( there are never any bad ones) and a monster amount of hassle.

View attachment 1386973

Recently scientist were trying out new scanning equipment at the Great Pyramid. They actually located at least 2 hidden passageway or corridors leading in. Some recent news indicated a trove of oldest know papyrus writings describing how the Pharaoh got the thing built. The ordinary person can't own or buy the new scanning technology though, it uses risky radiation which could be a health hazard.

 

[Red_desert]

Here is a good link from Last July----- Oldest Egyptian writing on papyrus displayed for first time -----Apparently these were at a port and not found inside the Great Pyramid, but still makes this interesting none-the-less. Maybe the reason they got the high tech equipment out there for a survey.

The Egyptian Museum in Cairo is showcasing for the first time the earliest writing from ancient Egypt found on papyrus, detailing work on the Great Pyramid of Giza, antiquities officials said Thursday.
The papyri were discovered near Wadi el-Jarf port, 25 kilometres (15 miles) south of the Gulf of Suez town of Zafarana, the antiquities ministry said.

The find by a French-Egyptian team unearths papers telling of the daily lives of port workers who transported huge limestone blocks to Cairo during King Khufu’s rule to build the Great Pyramid, intended to be his burial structure.
One document was a “diary by government official Merer (the beloved) with statistics and administrative details” of his work, said Sayed Mahfouz, who co-led the 2013 discovery.
Merer led a team of around 40, according to the ministry.

The documents also list revenues transferred from various Egyptian provinces to feed pyramid builders and pay their wages, Mahfouz said.
Revenue was written in red, while what was paid to workers would be written in black, said Mahfouz.
“It gives for every day an account of the work of this crew transporting limestone blocks from the quarries of Turah on the east bank of the Nile to the Pyramid of Khufu at Giza plateau through the Nile and its canals,” the ministry said.
It said the papyri “indicate the highly efficient administrative system during Khufu’s reign”.

Oldest Egyptian writing on papyrus displayed for first time